Kenichi Nakata is open to meeting with the Dragons about an extension. If he exercises his FA option, a number of teams, including Hanshin, Yakult, and Yokohama, will likely be interested in his services.

The Tigers are looking at Nobuhiro Takashiro as a possible candidate for INF/base-running coach. They are not planning to re-hire a third batting coach to replace Jitsuo Mizutani and will likely stick with two batting coaches -- Koichi Sekikawa and Mitsunobu Takahashi. Eiji Kanamori, Takao Ise, and Masahiro Doi are being considered for the open Ni-gun batting coach position. Ryuji Tachibana is among possibilities for conditioning coach.